Author: Gordon Govier

Carol Grabins, a supporter of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, was watching election returns Tuesday at a bar in rural Dane County when she let out a whoop of excitement at the latest results. A woman at a nearby table gave her the finger, and another yelled, “You’re the reason my daughter and I will have to go on welfare.” That’s when Grabins, who helped start the bipartisan, pro-civility group Reach Out Wisconsin, knew there was still a lot of work to do.

AUSTIN, Tex. (RNS) Laura Kaeppeler has a fantasy gig: traveling nonstop, wearing stylish new outfits each day and attracting TV crews in every city she visits as Miss America 2012. But the glamorous appearances go for a most unglamorous cause. As someone who saw her father hauled off to prison for a white collar crime, Kaeppeler uses her high-profile platform to shine a spotlight on the 2.7 million, largely unseen kids who have an incarcerated parent. “I feel like I’ve been called to do this,” said Kaeppeler, a 24-year-old from Kenosha, Wis.

This is no Sunday stroll for Andy Stenz. He’s walking with purpose. Walking and walking and walking. From the Mississippi River at La Crosse to Lake Michigan’s McKinley Beach in Milwaukee, the 31-year-old Waukesha man is completing the equivalent of nine marathons in 10 days – with another day of rest in between. He’s got one goal in mind. Stenz is hoping to bring clean water to parts of the world that don’t have it by raising awareness and money for the cause.

At Madison Church Supply, the Friar Tuck line of clergy shirts is sold out and the weatherproof Jesus statues are half off. The store, Madison’s first religious bookstore when it opened in 1953, will close next Thursday. Everything must go.

The U.S. Catholic Bishops have declared a Fortnight for Freedom to highlight concerns over the erosion of Religious Freedom in the United States. The two-week observance begins June 21st with a Mass in Baltimore, the oldest Cathoic Diocese in the U.S. Each diocese in the U.S. will be observing the campaign. The details for the Madison observance have just been published by the Madison Catholic Herald. A separate rally for religious freedom is scheduled in Madison next Friday.

  This summer Madison will be hosting 120 of the top younger Christian leaders of North America. The Lausanne Consultation for North American Younger Leaders will be held at the Inn on the Park, July 24-26, 2012. The Lausanne Movement was launched by Billy Graham with a meeting in 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The first Lausanne conference drew several thousand participants from across the globe. A second international conference was held in Manila in 1989 and a third in Cape Town in October, 2010. This Consultation for North American Younger Leaders is a follow-up to the Cape Town conference. It…

Just a few feet from the door of Vermont Lutheran Church, cyclists often whiz past, enjoying the rolling hills of western Dane County as they train for endurance races that will be held on those same rural roads. The area’s popularity as a biking hot spot has not come without tension. Residents complain of litter and road closures. Cyclists say they don’t always feel welcome. Both sides tell of rudeness and unsafe conditions. This has put Vermont Lutheran Church “in the heart of bicycling nirvana and sometimes in the crossfire between bikers and drivers,” said Gaila Olsen, a church member…

This story stretches from a long ago Madison clothing store to this week’s finale of “Dancing with the Stars,” and if you think that’s a reach, you don’t have the proper faith in the mustard seed.

Julaine Appling may be the most important social conservative in the state. The head of Wisconsin Family Action, a group dedicated to “advancing Judeo-Christian principles and values,” Appling, 60, was the face of the successful campaign six years ago to amend the Wisconsin Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Jeff Allen grew up an atheist on Chicago’s South Side and often took the Lord’s name in vain during the years he spent working nightclubs as a comedian. At 40, he became a born-again Christian, a switch that could have killed his career. “It’s not an embraced lifestyle in Hollywood,” Allen, now 55, said by phone last week from his home in Nashville. Allen chose to begin marketing himself as a Christian comedian. He’s since appeared at an inaugural gala for President George W. Bush and at the National Prayer Breakfast — twice! A majority of his gigs are in…